obsessive-compulsive

[uhb-ses-iv-kuhm-puhl-siv]

adjective

1. noting or relating to a personality characterized by perfectionism, indecision, conscientiousness, concern with detail, rigidity, and inhibition.

2. Psychiatry.,  noting or relating to a disorder or neurosis characterized by persistent intrusion of unwanted thoughts (obsessions) or the performance of actions, as repeated hand-washing, that one is unable to stop (compulsions).

   obsessive-compulsive disorder.

noun

1. a person having obsessive-compulsive traits.

Word History and Origins

Origin of obsessive-compulsive¹

First recorded in 1925–30; obsessive ( def. ) + compulsive ( def. )

Example Sentences

Tony Shalhoub suits up in brown once again as the obsessive-compulsive detective Adrian Monk in “Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie,” premiering Friday on Peacock.

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She weaned him off clozapine entirely in 2018 and Cauchi also stopped taking medication to treat his obsessive-compulsive disorder the year after, she said.

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Last year, he starred in the romantic drama “Turtles All the Way Down,” the film adaptation of John Green’s young adult novel that explores the complexities of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

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The “Fast Car” singer says that in addition to anxiety, he has a “particularly wicked” version of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

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They were also asked whether the participants' parents, siblings or children were ever diagnosed with major depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder or other mood or psychiatric disorders.

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